A Second Chance at Christmas
by DD Leader Dark Heart of Water
Summary: It's all too easy to forget the real gifts of the holidays, building our lives around the meaningless and seeking joy in the pointless. When an accidental meeting between people from worlds apart leads to choices, they receive the gift of opportunity - to stand fast or take a chance. Contains Kouichi x OC and hints of JP x Drew. T for one swear.


DD: Hi guys!

Kouji: Oh, so you're finally back, huh?

JP: Well it's about time!

DD: Well I've been busy!

Percy: Oh, yeah? With what?

DD: Have you sat the Junior Cert before? I don't think so. We get hours of homework every night!

Piper: Shouldn't you be doing homework now then?

DD: ...Possibly...

Drew: In other words, she's procrastinating by writing, watching Naruto and roleplaying.

Koike: Sounds about right.

Kouji: Hey, why are the Percy Jackson characters and your cousin's OC here? This isn't a new series!

DD: Yeah, but I wanted to mix things up so this year's Christmas special is a Digimon Frontier, Percy Jackson and a short Christmas film I found on YouTube! ^-^

All: -_-'

Kouichi: So... basically you only started writing this today and didn't have enough time to do something long like last year?

DD: Exactly! :D

Kouichi: *sigh*

DD: Hey, why are you complaining? You're the only oone in this with a relationship.

Kouichi and Koike: *blush*

DD: *smirks*

Koike: Why am I here though? Not that I'm complaining, but you don't even own me!

DD: I wanted to include you so I asked Miyuki if I could.

Koike: ...Why didn't you just include Harry too then? And Karissa?

DD: Uh... Shut up.

Jason: Can we please just start?

DD: Fine...

* * *

><p><strong>A Second Chance at Christmas<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies and do unto others as you would have done unto you - Steve Maraboli<em>

* * *

><p>"Now I'm late; thanks a bunch, Zoe!" Drew Tanaka complained into her phone as she stalked down the pavement. "Those spreadsheets better be on my desk tomorrow morning or your Christmas vacation is going to be a lot longer than you thought!"<p>

_"But my mom's in hospital; I need to be there for her!"_ Came the reply.

"I don't care about your personal life; it's not my problem, Zoe," Drew shot back. "It's not _my _responsibility-" She was cut off as she slipped and was sent skidding into a pile of belongings, most of which revolved around painting.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" A boy snapped as he pulled his scattered belongings back.

Drew took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart before she roughly gathered her own things, paying no regard to the boy's objects.

"Please, be careful; this is all we have!" By the end of the sentence, the boy sounded like he was actually pleading with her. Silena looked up and got a good look at him.

He was no more than seventeen – a year or two younger than her. He had deep blue eyes that seemed to bore through her and his black hair was chin length and extremely messy. Beside him sat an almost identical boy with a hard gaze and a ponytail of the same coloured hair. Finally, on the other side of the first boy was a short, mousey haired boy – probably sixteen. He had bright green eyes and a splash of freckles on his cheeks.

Drew noticed that he was holding the first boy's hand and she scowled. "Hey, don't act like this is my fault! Your stuff is all over the sidewalk!"

"You could have watched where you were going!" The boy with the ponytail growled. She glared at him and pushed some of the paintings out of the way to get the end of her stuff. "Aw, come on!"

"Please," the brown haired boy murmured softly. "This is our art; it's the only thing we have right now! Please be careful."

She met his gaze for a brief moment and shrugged, shaking her head. "Sorry, I don't have any money for you." She stood up and put her phone to her ear again. "Zoe, are you still there?"

_"Are you okay? What happened?"_

"Ugh, I just tripped over some junk," Drew replied easily.

_"Whose was it?"_

Drew glanced at the three boys for a moment before snorting. "Nobody's." She continued walking again, purposefully stabbing the heel of her shoe through one of the delicately painted canvases.

"Son of a bitch," the second boy cursed as he picked up the ruined painting.

"Kouji, calm down," the first boy murmured.

"She did that on purpose, Kouichi!" Kouji Minamoto growled.

"I know," Kouichi Kimura sighed. He glanced at the painting, shook his head and threw it into a black bag behind them.

The mousey haired boy frowned slightly and reached forward.

"Koike?" Kouichi blinked at his boyfriend in surprise.

Koike Chiba remained silent as he picked up a small, golden locket with a dove on it. "She must have dropped it." He glanced up at the retreating figure of Drew.

"Not our problem," Kouji snorted as Koike opened the locket.

Inside was a well-worn picture of Drew as a child with what seemed to be her parents and older sister. Kouichi glanced at the picture for a moment before Koike closed the locket and glanced at the area that Drew had been in a few moments before.

* * *

><p>Drew sighed and straightened out her pink dress before knocking on the door.<p>

A few seconds later, it opened to reveal a girl with blue eyes and dark brown hair. "Hey, Drew! Merry Christmas!"

"Hey sis," Drew greeted with a fake smile as she handed her half sister, Silena Beauregard, a small, pink bag. "This is for you." Ignoring her reaction, Drew walked inside and grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter and dropped her pink scarf onto the salver he was holding in the glass' place.

"Would you like some champ-" Silena cut herself off as she looked up, noticing that Drew had already helped herself to a glass. "And you're wearing pink too…"

As Silena walked off to get something, Drew grinned and walked to the others that were in the room. "Hey guys!"

Jason Grace and Piper McClean inclined their heads at her before returning to their conversation while Percy Jackson hid a grimace. Charles Beckendorf smiled at her and JP Shibayama greeted her with a friendly hug.

* * *

><p>Kouji sighed as he, Kouichi and Koike began packing up their things again. A passerby glanced at them and seemed to hide a smirk as he pulled a dollar from his pocket. "Merry Christmas; get a job!"<p>

Kouji ground his teeth together and glared after the man but he didn't chase after him. Instead they just finished packing their things and reluctantly took the dollar.

* * *

><p>"They just sat there and I had to pick everything up myself!" Drew finished, shaking her head.<p>

The only ones that seemed to be listening were JP, who seemed more interested in the fact that the trio had been painting, and Silena.

"Well the city's not doing much to keep _them _off the streets either," Silena pointed out with a shrug.

"You know entire families have been thrown onto the streets since the world economy blew up, right?" JP asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's ridiculous," Drew sighed, ignoring JP.

"Eh, right, well let's change the topic to something more festive!" Silena suggested. "So what are you guys thankful for this year? And Christmas bonuses don't count, Jason. Percy, you go first."

They all rolled their eyes but decided to humour their host. "To my dad, who may have ignored me for a while but he's better than most," Percy said after a moment's hesitation.

"And I guess to my dad as well for not making a film this year to spend time with me," Piper added when everyone looked at her.

"Eh… to the gods for keeping thunderstorms to a minimum," JP chuckled. Everyone sweatdropped at his fear of thunder.

"To the DIY shop for their brilliant sales," Charles said. "It's the only reason my workshop's been in business at this time of year."

"To my sister, who left the Hunters for a week to spend Christmas at home," Jason said with a small smile. It had been a while since he had seen his older sister Thalia.

Drew smirked slightly. "To my assistant Zoe, who will have those spreadsheets on my desk and make my life a lot easier, or will have a much longer vacation than she planned." There was a pause as everyone tried to figure out whether or not she was being serious.

When they discovered that she was, Silena forced a fake smile. "Great! Well I'm thankful that all of us managed to stay friends over the years that we've known each other." She raised her glass. "Merry Christmas guys."

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><p>Kouji glanced up when they reached the pawn shop. "Are we going to sell it or not?"<p>

Koike hesitated, thinking about the locket in his pocket. "I…I don't know…"

"Come on; it's not like we owe her anything," Kouji pointed out, leaning against the wall.

Koike hesitated again and glanced over at Kouichi. Kouichi smiled. "It's up to you."

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><p>"See; I finally got them!" Silena thrilled, showing off her diamond earrings to Piper and Drew, the former of whom looked like she was only there out of politeness. "I don't care how much they cost; I deserve a little treat at Christmas."<p>

Drew smiled. "They suit you. Which reminds me, I wanted to show you my locket!" She reached up a hand to her neck only to freeze when she only found skin. "I-it's gone!" Eyes widening, she ran outside, ignoring JP as he called after her.

Stalking outside, she almost shrieked. "You!"

The three boys from earlier whipped around to look at her. "I was just coming to find you! What did you do with it?"

Kouji gave Koike a look that said 'what did I tell you?' and he folded his arms. Koike hesitated before pulling something out of his pocket and unfurling his fingers to reveal a golden locket with a dove on it. Drew shakily took it, her eyes wide. _My locket. _"H-how did you know where to find me?"

Koike didn't meet her gaze or answer her question. "We looked at the pictures inside it and thought it might be important to you…"

"It's my great grandmother's," Drew whispered, sounding close to tears.

The three turned to leave but Drew called them back, "Wait! What're your names?"

"I'm Kouichi Kimura," Kouichi said after a moment. "This is Koike Chiba and my brother Kouji Minamoto."

"I'm Drew." Drew offered them a small, feeble smile. "Uh… let me give you something."

Kouji glared at her. "We didn't come for charity; we don't want anything from you."

"No, Kouji; I don't feel like I have to!" Drew protested. "I want to!"

The two locked eyes for a brief moment, Drew's gaze almost pleading and Kouji's cold and calculating.

After a moment, Kouji hesitated and glanced at his brother and Koike, shrugging.

Koike and Kouichi shared a look as well before the latter nodded. "Okay."

* * *

><p>"I'm serious about getting these to a gallery; I'll definitely make some phone calls for you," Percy promised with a grin as he glanced at Koike and the twins.<p>

"How much do you want for this one?" Jason asked, holding up an almost photographic painting of a lake at midnight. "I know a guy at work who's looking to get something really special for his girlfriend."

Before Koike, who was surprisingly the best at bargaining out of the three, could reply, Silena grabbed the painting out of Jason's hand. "Oh, no. I want this one for myself!"

As the two friends began arguing over the painting, Drew smiled at the three. Koike was the first to return the smile. "Merry Christmas."

Drew blinked in surprise. It wasn't the first time someone had said that to her, obviously, but it was the first time that she could hear sincerity in their voice as it was said. "Yeah," Kouichi agreed with a smile. "And thanks; this means a lot."

Kouji just gave her a small smile and nodded.

Drew was silent for a moment. Then she returned their smiles with the first real one she had given anyone in a while. "You're welcome. Merry Christmas."

* * *

><p>DD: And that's a wrap!<p>

Kouji: That was tiny compared to your other stories!

DD: Oh shut up! It was a ten minute film, and I lengthened it!

JP: And why was it set in America when everyone was mortal?

DD: Because all of the Percy Jackson characters except Drew are American (as far as I remember). It made more sense... when I was writing it.

Kouji: *rolls eyes*

Koike: *sigh* Since no one else is going to say it, I may as well. Merry Christmas, guys!

Kouichi: And Happy New Year!

DD: And please don't sue me or kill me!

Jason: And for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, have a great holiday, whatever festival you're celebrating right now.

Piper: And if you're not celebrating anything, just have a good time in general.

Silena: And please don't flame DD. Even if she didn't include your OTP or favourite character.

Charles: ... I think it's all been said.

All: Bye!


End file.
